BrodyinMN Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Hello - My name is George and we live in Minnesota; I am new to this message board. We recently adopted Brody from a rescue organization. We suspect he is mostly a BC, but we are not sure. From what I can tell searching on-line, he looks a lot like a BC and his behavior is very similar. Per our vet, he appears to be about 1 year old. He is housebroken and does very well around the house without being crated. He tends to be a little reluctant to eat (explaining his low weight of about 33 lbs (although he gained 4 since we adopted him 2+ weeks ago), unless we sprinkle his food with some chicken broth, cheese, or other human toppings. We previously had an American Brittany who was a great family companion for almost 9 years, but he recently became seriously ill with cancer (liver/spleen) and had to be put down. We were very fortunate to find Brody through a friend of a friend, and he's been great for us. We are suburbanites looking for an active dog to play and walk with. He is our only pet and loves the attention he gets. We do find him to be very needy for that attention as he whines when we ignore him for too long, especially when he sees one of us leave the house. We've been providing him with play toys/pull toys to help distract him when we leave, which has helped to some degree. We are looking forward to getting him outside more often to catch balls and discs, once the weather becomes a little more tolerable. He definitely has the energy to burn for more activity! The only concern we have about Brody is his infatuation with shadows and how he seems preoccupied with them, especially at night. He doesn't seem to be affected during the daytime/daylight from shadows from the sun. Since we don't know his history as he was a rescued pet, we are suspecting he may have been neglected and left in a basement or some area that was dark and didn't have much light/activity. Is this desire to chase shadows something common to the BC breed? Thanks for any suggestions/recommendations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle K Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Hi and Welcome to the boards! I'm sorry to hear about your Brittany. Good job on giving Brody a new home and a new chance on life. I don't have an answer for you about shadows, since that's a new one for me, but I'm sure someone here can help you. I'd love to see pics of Brody, if you have any. I just wanted to wish you welcome. I'm sure you'll love it here. The people are great and very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyinMN Posted December 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Hi and Welcome to the boards! I'm sorry to hear about your Brittany. Good job on giving Brody a new home and a new chance on life. I don't have an answer for you about shadows, since that's a new one for me, but I'm sure someone here can help you. I'd love to see pics of Brody, if you have any. I just wanted to wish you welcome. I'm sure you'll love it here. The people are great and very helpful. Michelle, Here are a few photos of our new family member. Just had his first bath today and his hair is looking a little more fluffy now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc friend Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Welcome to the Board! My sympathies on the loss of your Brittany. It is certainly a tribute to him that you chose to obtain another dog. It is an understatement to say that BC's can be obsessive about things! If you plug in "obsessive behaviors" into the search function, there have been a lot of discussions which may be helpful to you including a November 2007 discussion about shadow chasing. Thanks for giving Brody a home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle K Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Michelle, Here are a few photos of our new family member. Just had his first bath today and his hair is looking a little more fluffy now. He sure is a handsome boy. I'm so glad that he's in a loving home where he can gain weight and be adored like he should be. Thanks so much for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njnovice Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Michelle, Here are a few photos of our new family member. Just had his first bath today and his hair is looking a little more fluffy now. That may be a pure bred bc. I'm far from an expert, but I'd say he at least has alot of bc in him. Don't worry about the weather being tolerable: he'll enjoy playing in a monsoon or a blizzard! I spent a good chunk of the morning in pouring snow/rain/freezing rain playing "soccer" with Mick at the dog park. I had to force him to quit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandyleew Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 He does lok like he could be a pure bred BC. He looks a lot like my Brew. Brew is also obsessed with shadows and reflections. I have found that the best thing I can do about it is try to avoid it happening. When he seems to become to focused on a shadow or a reflection, I will get out a toy and start playing with him or work on our training to get his mind on something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 My sympaathies too on the loss of your Brittany - it's always tough to lose a dog, especially when they're not that old. Brody sure looks like a Border Collie - and a very handsome one at that. Your vet's age estimate looks pretty right too. Remember that healthy Border Collies tend to be on the lean side anyway - on the Purina body condition chart which you can find online, I'd say a lot of Board members keep their dogs on the lean side of normal. I've been lucky in that I haven't had an obsessive dog - but a friend's dog will obsess over flies and bees and beetles. I've heard of plenty obsessing over shadows, lights etc. Sandyleew's advice is good - try not to let the chasing happen - interrupt it by distraction or if that doesn't work, with a firm verbal something like "Uh, uh" and then re-direct. Personally, I'd be using the crate for Brody for those times when I couldn't be with him to stop the obsessive behavior - you don't want him self-reinforcing. Lots of mental stimulation through training - obedience stuff, tricks - doesn't really matter what, as long as it's keeping his brain busy, and reinforcing the bod between you - should help a lot. He looks as though he's going to be a quick study - you're going to have lots of fun with him, even in winter, and you may well find he loves the snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyler Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Welcome to the boards. I am so very sorry to hear of your loss. I recently lost my best friend (border collie) Skyler to pancreatic cancer after 12 of the best years of my life. I know the grief that comes with it but I too have a new BC puppy in the house. Your new dog there looks like a very handsome fella and I wouldnt be surprised if he is full blooded either. Borders range quite a bit in appearance as they were bred for stock work over appearances. Of course there are certain absolute physical traits that come along with them but depending on what line they come from there are quite a bit of "personality" differences among the breed. As for the shadows I have not seen that one either but it doesnt come as a surprise. I have been around Borders most of my life and have seen some weird quirks among the breed - they all have at least one! If you ask just about any BC owner they will tell you that it is one of wonderful characteristics of the breed. My new puppy Koda already has signs of quirks....he has a fascination with mirrors. Even at 10 weeks he can look at himself for 10 minutes at time in pure curiousness. It seems you have done some research about the breed already and are finding out that Brody probably has some separation anxiety. This is common as well in Borders and they demand hours of exercise a day. It also sounds as though he is a little pushy about wanting attention when you are home...LOL. Get used to it. Just make sure you do whatever is needed to curb his dominance issues. Borders can be extremely pushy and many unsuspecting people have become the pets themselves in the relationship. If you need help just come here as there are many well qualified and experienced BC owners to help you out. Again, I welcome you and Brody to the boards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrodyinMN Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Thanks for the tip on preoccupation with play or other activity to stop the "shadow chasing". Brody has only been doing this during the evening hours (not in the early morning when it's dark or during the daytime), but the frequency has declined as we keep him preoccupied with other activities (rope pull, chasing balls, etc). Hopefully as we continue doing this he will forget about the shadows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kayleegator Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Thanks for the tip on preoccupation with play or other activity to stop the "shadow chasing". Brody has only been doing this during the evening hours (not in the early morning when it's dark or during the daytime), but the frequency has declined as we keep him preoccupied with other activities (rope pull, chasing balls, etc). Hopefully as we continue doing this he will forget about the shadows. My girl Kaylee is a shadow-chaser, too. It's morning sun streaming into the house that sets her off. The shadow of her own wagging tail is usually the target, but any shadow that moves will get her attention. I recently remembered to try the old God Gun, the spray bottle with water, and it's working! Kaylee knows I don't like her fixating on shadows, and will find something else to do if the God Gun says she has to. I offer an alternative along with the spray: here's a squeaky toy, much more fun than shadows. Distraction by itself has been ineffectual, up to now. She chases shadows outside too, but I'm not going to worry about that. I'd rather have her chasing shadows rather than digging yet another hole in the garden... Good luck with the Brode: keep me posted if you find any further 'treatments' for our pixie-led dogs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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